It was all fine as a plan, until my 150km ride two weeks before the brevet. I was joined by Sreeram and Murali and we did great time to Sathanur and back to Harohalli. It was a sunny, hot day and Murali, who had been on the climb to Jigani before, decided to take Kanakapura Road back. He warned us to take it easy saying the climbs were killer and there would be no shade. True to his word, the climbs were killer and we suffered in the heat. To add to the pain, the road to Anekal was unpaved and took its toll on my butt and hands. We were reduced to a crawl as my left knee developed an ache. By the time we got to Anekal, I had made up mind to abandon my brevet attempt. I could not figure out how to avoid the misery I had just experienced on the day of the brevet and I didn't want to take on 450km feeling like this. I told my riding buddies that I wasn't doing the brevet and I skipped the practice ride the week before the brevet.
As fate would have it, the brevet organizers made some last minute changes to the route and took out the unpaved section. Then, Vasu pushed the Kona distributor to ship out my road bike that I had ordered two brevets ago and it was finally going to arrive in time for the 600. In the light of these, my attempt was back on. I had built up a good rapport with the bunch that I had done the last two brevets with and having them along was good incentive.
I usually find it hard to sleep the night before the brevet because of all the excitement amidst the preparation. For this one, I tried something different and prepared in full on Thursday - two nights before the brevet. Sure enough, I slept very little that night. Maybe 4.5 hours. Picked up my bike and spare tube on Friday but didn't have much else to do. Managed to hit the bed at 10:30pm and sleep till 4:30am. Left from home in my car around 5AM, picked up Manjula from the ORR near her place and arrived at the IISc Gymkhana with about 10 minutes for the start.
Had an uneventful start with Chiddu, managed to lock on to the wheel of Mustafa who knew the route to Kanakapura Road unlike clueless me. There were some frustrating moments on Kanakapura Road where we riders were stuck behind a slow moving bus with no way to get past. After that though, we made generally good time till Kanakapura. Took a breakfast break (idli, vada & chikki) at Kanakapura with Mustafa and Nirmal, Vishal and Mohit joined as we ate. I was done soon and joined Mohit to Sathanur. On the way there we saw Aman, Chiddu and Parameshwar returning. It looked like Aman had a flat. Got our brevet card stamped at the Sathanur control, also caught up with with Rajanikanth and Sohan. By the time we got back to Aman, he had fixed his flat and was ready to continue. I was enjoying riding my new bike on these good roads and made good time. Saw Vasu heading to Sathanur on this stretch. Apparently, he had only started at 6:50AM. I was sure he would catch up to us, bid him goodbye and continued on. Stopped for a 10 minute break after Kanakapura to see if the others would catch up but they didn't and I guessed they had stopped to eat at Kanakapura. Proceeded to Harohalli battling the strong winds. I refilled my water bottles in preparation for the climb and started from Harohalli when I saw Rajanikanth ride in. He was going to take a tea/coffee break. I told him that I expected to be very slow on this section so I would start now and let them catch up with me.
Sure enough, Mohit, Aman, Rajanikanth and Sohan caught up with me after a little while, as I took another water/chikki break. From here on, I stuck with Sohan and we soon came to the turnoff for Anekal, which now sported a brand new paved surface (!). We carried on towards Jigani on the spotty surface, taking one long break at a bakery where we waited for some of the riders behind us. When they didn't show up after 20 mins or so, we carried on. When we reached Jigani and took the turn towards Anekal, we realized Nirmal had shot ahead without turning. Sohan sent him a text message and we continued towards Anekal. Nirmal did catch up with us after a little while. On the outskirts of Anekal, we ran into Manjula, who had abandoned the ride by now and was in her car. She had a flight to catch Sunday night and had only meant to ride part of the brevet. After a quick chat, we continued through Anekal to Attibele. The roads were good but the strong side winds were pushing us about. Got to Attibele and got ATM slips for the control. Ran into Vasu, who had arrived here 30 minutes before us, superhuman bicyclist that he was ;) Realized at this point that my light for the night was depleted of battery as it had switched itself on in my handlebar bag and had been on for many hours :(
After what seemed like a long break for food (masala dosa, curd rice) at Attibele, we got on the highway to Vellore. The stretch to Krishnagiri was expected to be the easiest stretch of the whole brevet, but alas that was not to be. The strong headwinds meant we had to pedal hard even on the downslope sections. I ran into Vasu sitting by the road, leaning into this bike. Stopped to inquire if all was well, only to find that he was in deep slumber. Again, bid him goodbye and continued on. Toiled till the Cafe Coffee Day complex at Shoolagiri where all the riders were on a break. I gave up on my rear view mirror which kept sliding loose and removed it, thankfully Vasu was able to fit it in his bag. Saw a wonderful sunset here and Nirmal pointed out Venus and Jupiter which were easily visible. Thankfully, the winds seemed to have died down by the time we started from here. Made good time till the turnoff for the road to Vellore. We stopped for a water/food break. Everyone feasted on hot omlettes and eggs at this point and refilled bottles. Got back on the road, refreshed and ready with a plan. The plan was to reach Motel Brindavan at Ambur by 12:30AM and break there till 1:30AM before proceeding to the next control at Katpadi. Sohan called ahead and told the bike-friendly owner about our arrival, so he would have food ready.
The road to Vellore made for better bicycling, with low traffic, no winds and smooth surface. We appeared to be making pretty good time. Stopped quickly for Vasu to change his batteries and also got a helmet light from him, since my primary light was just about dead. Vasu started a pace line with Aman and Nirmal. I tagged along for a bit but then fell back. Sometime before Vaniyambadi, saw Vasu and Aman off to the side of the road and pulled over to realize that Nirmal had taken a fall. He was lying on the road nursing two bleeding elbows. One looked particularly nasty. Luckily, Sohan had packed a first aid kit and was able to clean and dress Nirmal's wounds. Nirmal insisted on completing the ride, however the rest of us overruled him and advised him to take rest at Motel Brindavan and return in the morning. But how could we get him there? After wasting some time trying to flag down a vehicle, we decided to ride to the Vaniyambadi toll booth where our luck might be better. Thankfully, even before the toll booth we found an auto stand where an auto was available. We put Nirmal in the auto and continued pedaling towards Ambur.
When passing Mufasa's Diner in Vaniyambadi, I noticed Chiddu and Parameshwar's bikes outside. By the time we got to Ambur, we were hungry and tired and eager to find Motel Brindavan. Unfortunately, the Motel was still a ways off. Nearly 10km away, to be exact. So, after about 30 mins we landed at Motel Brindavan. The time - approx 1:30AM. It was great to get some hot food at that hour (sambar rice with appalam). I attempted to get some sleep, but it was tough as the body had cooled down and the floor was cold. On Rajani's suggestion, I spread some newspaper on the floor and lay out. I guess I passed out from exhaustion, woke up 30 minutes later and wanted to leave. Found myself shivering in the cold. After waiting a while for the others to join us, I left with Sohan intending to slowly warm myself up. Soon, Rajani and the others joined us. Near Pallikonda we saw three bikes outside a roadside hotel. Guessed it was Vasu, Chiddu and Parameshwar. Rajanikanth made a quick call to tell Chiddu we had just passed him. As we got close to Vellore, the directions confused us and we got off the highway a little too early. This meant we found ourselves having to carry the bikes across some train tracks. In the end it was all good, because it snapped us out of our sleep. By the time we got to the turnoff for Katpadi, Chiddu and others also caught up with us. And so it happened that all of us arrived at the control at the same time - around 4:30AM. After getting our ATM slips and water refills, we stopped at a tea shop to get warmed up.
Chiddu warned us that most of the distance to the next control at Mulbagal was uphill. About 5AM, we were all starting to get on the road again when Parameshwar noticed that he had a flat. He didn't have a spare tube or a pump. Vasu gave him his spare tube and left, Rajani offered his pump but Parameshwar got one from Aman. Everyone had left soon - Aman and I waited to make sure that he was going to be fine. Unfortunately, he didn't seem that experienced a fixing flats. To add to it, we found soon that Aman's pump was not going to cut it, it didn't work with Presta valves. I made a call to Rajani hoping he hadn't gone very far. He turned around grudgingly, as there was no other option. To leave Parameshwar here without a pump would very likely mean the end of his brevet attempt, as Presta pumps were not going to be available locally. Sohan was waiting for Rajani to return. In all, by the time we left Parameshwar with a pump to inflate his new tube, it was past 5:30AM. A 30 minute delay for the 4 of us, which was to prove expensive.
As we biked on, Rajani found it tough to go on and wanted to stop for a sleep break. Rajani and Aman slept on the sidewalk by the road, Sohan and I just relaxed for a bit. Parameshwar passed us here, dropping off Rajani's pump. Soon, we started from our stop with Rajani and Aman going ahead. Sohan and I rode together expecting to catch up with the other two. However, unknown to us, they had decided to turn it on and go ahead without any stops. The stop by the road was the last we would see any rider till near the finish. We made our way to Gudiyattam, making a few stops to check the GPS and make sure we were on course. When we didn't find the others, we decided to make a breakfast stop.
Had one of the best breakfasts you could ask for, that too at a bargain price - 4 idlis and one vada for Rs. 10. As we kept going, we found our progress slow. The road was a slow uphill track and the surface was not smooth so we couldn't really increase our speed. I did enjoy riding this road though, with clean surroundings and big trees providing ample shade. Took a 15 minute break at one point because I felt sleep was threatening to overwhelm. Sohan went ahead and I planned to catch up. All the shade soon disappeared as we hit the big climbs to Palamner, out in the sun. It was a story similar to the previous day, killer climbs in the sun with no water available although there were hordes of monkeys here. Somehow toiled it up the climbs, conserving my water. Just as I ran out of water, I found a small roadside shop where I refilled my bottles. The shopkeeper told me Sohan was just a little ahead and also said the "ghat section" was done. Thanking my stars, I went ahead and caught up with Sohan before Palamner. At Palamner, just stopped briefly to eat a banana and find the road to Mulbagal. It was going to be a race against time to make it to the next control in Mulbagal on time.
Palamner was the self-proclaimed "milk capital of south india" (news to me) and there were plenty of milk trucks going back and forth on the Mulbagal road, making riding on this road quite unpleasant. Sohan needed a bathroom break and I watched his bike while he was gone. The sun was beating down mercilessly by now and the going was slow. I got pushed off the highway quite a few times by heavy traffic. We stopped for a tender coconut break and I remember being amazed at the amount of fluid my body was sucking in. I was easily able to drink two coconuts without feeling the need to pee! Faced with failure to make the next control on time, this was easily the most challenging section of the entire brevet - at least for Sohan and me. We discussed things like - would we try to complete the ride after missing the control, are we taking the bus back or do we rest and ride back et al. We made it late to the ATM at Mulbagal and reported in to the brevet organizer who advised us to complete our ride as he may be able to give us an exception for having stopped to help Nirmal who had crashed in the night.
This totally unexpected gift gave us a shot of adrenaline and we got on the road right away, hoping to make it to the next control on time. The road was excellent too, for about 10 kms, after which it disintegrated into the usual spotty roads. Still, we made good time to Srinivasapura. Stopped for a small lunch of eggs and salad en route. Really wanted an ice cream by the time I got to Srinivasapura but, unable to find one, I settled for a Maaza. Refilled our water bottles and got going to Chintamani. I don't remember too much about this stretch. I think we took a 10 minute break by the road when we got really sleepy. The route through Chintamani was horrendous with a lot of traffic and no paved surface. By the time we turned on to the road to Chikbalapur, the sun was setting in glorious style and I could see Nandi Hills in the distance. In spite of my NightRider lights, I managed to miss a few ruts and potholes - apologized repeatedly to my new bike and promised to get it looked at when we were done.
Made it to Chikbalapur without much incident, got our ATM slips and started to Hebbal. Started to look for some place to grab a quick bite but was only seeing "bar and restaurant" types. Finally, found a place to grab rava idli and tea (my second time!). Got back on the road but not before yelling at yet another person attempting to fiddle with my bicycle. This was a recurring theme over this brevet starting with one person at Kanakapura who attempted to ride my bicycle (to check "how smooth it felt") while I was eating breakfast.
Once we made it to the highway, the going was smooth. I found a good rhythm and thanked the Gods for the smooth surface. Sohan locked on to my tail and we made great time to Devanahalli. We slowed down just a bit before the airport turn off and Sohan reported that he was in pain and had to stop to spray some Volini. Felt bad for him but at the same time I kept pushing him since we wanted to finish on time. Sometime before Yelahanka we saw another bike light in the distance. Upon drawing closer, found Ashutosh biking in a daze. Apparently, he had been biking alone for a while and had dozed off. Urged him to keep up with us and kept going. The traffic picked up as we got closer to Hebbal but we rode like madmen, attempting to make the end on time. As luck would have it, my light gave out and I had to stop to wear Vasu's headlamp. Cursing my luck, I caught up with the other two. Sohan had mentioned that he didn't know the turn at Hebbal so I waited a little to make sure Sohan and Ashutosh were on my tail and took the turn to ORR. The turn to New BEL Road couldn't come soon enough here. We kept expecting the next turn to be the one but of course it wasn't. When the right turn did arrive, there was so much traffic that we couldn't do our best time. Ultimately I pulled in to the IISc gate, Sohan soon afterwards. Saw the others (Aman, Rajani, Mohit) heading to Pizza Hut. We hadn't stopped anywhere since Chikbalapur. Spent some time catching our breaths. The brevet organizers were non-committal on our completion, understandably. It was not really in their hands. However, we were informed two days later that our exception had been granted and that we were now official finishers of the 600k BRM.